This series of articles was written for Marketing magazine, to outline how current marketing trends will affect the model marketing professional - and to offer some personal development advice along the way.

In it we identify four megatrends - those of the customer, the effects of globalisation, the fragmentation of media channels and the rise and rise of accountability - and explore how each is changing the landscape for high-flying marketers.

Recessions can be a tough time for product and services…or it can offer opportunity to beat the competition and grow market share. The current recession environment is different to anything we have faced before – different dynamics are in place – not least the internet and the far greater degree of globalisation. This thinkpiece and associated support tools provides a summary of thinking on the topic of marketing in a recession. It is based on a broad range of articles already written on the topic as well as the input and experience from the Oxford Strategic Marketing team.

All mass market service brands face a constant dilemma: how to deliver a personal experience consistently across multiple channels. Written by Jonathan Turner of OxfordSM and Paula Vennells, Commercial Director at Whitbread, this article describes how Whitbread's Winning Brands Programme resolved that dilemma and in the process turned the company into a true customer learning organisation.

The first few months of any job are pressurised. But for Marketing Directors, the pressure to perform can be acute. The seeds of future success or failure are sown early, and visibly - in the first 100 days (F100D)

Oxford SM commissioned research to explore the critical decisions that Marketing Directors must take. Our report shares their insights and experiences which underpin success and establishes a set of general principles which may be applied to all senior marketing roles - principles that are brought together in the F100D roadmap.